PMAS Observing Campaign at Calar Alto 3.5m Telescope: Local host properties of nearby type Ia supernovae

• Applicant: Professor Dr. Martin Matthias Roth
• Subject Area: Astrophysics and Astronomy
• Term: from 2014 to 2015
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 266680719

Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are today the strongest demonstrated technique for measuring the dark energy equation of state and a key tools in the direct measurement of the Hubble constant parameter H0. However, their progenitors are as yet undetermined, which suggests potential uncontrolled cosmological biases. Hosts studies have highlighted correlation between SNe Ia and global properties sufficient in size to induce systematic errors. In this context, Rigault et al. 2013 demonstrated that analyzing the close environment of the SN enabled better understanding of those biases. Here, we offer to go a step further by conducting the first study of the stellar populations in the direct environment of very nearby SNe Ia. This should significantly improve our control on SN-cosmological environmental biases.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants